


WIP

by someidioticurl - stories (someidioticurl)



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:47:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24865555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/someidioticurl/pseuds/someidioticurl%20-%20stories





	WIP

Gentian followed a steward down a quiet corridor and didn't even bother to hide a long yawn. Of course, out of _all_ attending bachelors, _his_ private audience had to be scheduled for such an ungodly early hour. While everyone else slept off their hangovers, he had to be functional enough to meet with the troublemaker crown princess herself. Gentian seriously contemplated making a bet with the old steward that his princess would make him wait at least an hour but the steward in question stopped and turned.

"Your Highness." He bowed and opened a half of a double door. Giggles from the other side quietened when he walked in and bowed to whoever was inside. "His Highness, Prince Gentian Petrit."

"Thank you, Ermis. Please, let him in."

Gentian frowned at this voice - he would have lost the bet.

The steward, Ermis, walked out and once again bowed, this time motioning at the open door. "Princess Harmonia's office."

It was a long, sunbathed room. A waiting room. Two desks stood at the end, under a tall window but close to the entrance was a sitting suite. Princess Harmonia sat in an armchair, with her feet on the seat, while both her ladies in waiting - the late Queen's lady in waiting, Duchess Narcissa Sapphire and her daughter Rose - sat like proper ladies on a sofa.

Gentian gave a curt nod. "Good morning, Your Highness. Ladies." He pressed his lips, watching the princess - he was used to being the noble with the _least_ manners and wasn't sure how to exactly approach this situation; being the second last.

Princess Harmonia rose to her feet and only _then_ stepped off the armchair. She bounced closer, a radiant smile on her face. If not for the fact Gentian knew she was two years older than him, he would have thought her a nineteen years old at most. "Good morning, Prince Gentian," she hummed, stopping way closer than it was appropriate.

Gentian didn't step back. Nor did he change his normal expression, one that many had described as 'tired annoyance'.

"You look nice." She looked him up and down, either ignoring or not noticing his raised eyebrow at her remark. With her hands linked behind her back, she leant forward - her face no more than half a foot away from his chest - and sniffed. "And you smell nice, too." She twirled around and - with her hands still linked behind her back - walked through an open side door. "Please, come on in, Prince Gentian."

Frowning, he took one step, glanced at the two ladies in waiting. The younger, Rose, stood up and looked at him expectantly. With a clearly amused smirk, she followed close behind him to close the office door.

"Do you have any questions so far, Prince Gentian?" Princess Harmonia opened a drawer of her carved desk and hefted a stack of folders onto the desktop.

"Do you smell every single bachelor during their audience?" Gentian stopped in front of the desk and took a look at the folders before sitting in an armchair; they - or at least the top one with his name and title on it - had the Monsmare Kingdom crest pressed but not the Monsmare Family one. They probably had been prepared on her Council's instruction, not Princess'.

"No." Princess Harmonia shook her head and plopped - literally plopped - down into her chair. "You've been the first so far and the only one I intend to sniff during this whole ordeal."

Gentian scoffed and slid lower in his armchair, with elbows on armrests. Oh, just why was he _not_ surprised?

"It's a nice choice of cologne."

He squinted at her. He took a slow breath before replying. "Thank you." How long had it been since anyone, outside his Kingdom, had given him a genuine compliment? Princess Harmonia was either an outstanding actress or her warm if a bit impish smile was honest.

With a forefinger, she tapped the top folder - his folder - and slid it an inch closer to him. "Any guesses what those might be?"

He shrugged. "Your Council's reports on each invited bachelor." Everyone, even Commons, knew this whole event was for her to find a future groom.

"Close." She opened the folder and held it up for him to see the front page, all while covering her mouth and nose with it. "There's one for _each_ noble bachelor."

Under his name, beside his photograph, Gentian could see a big 'to invite?' point with a red 'no' stamped beside it. There were more points and paragraphs under it but it was too far and too small for him to decipher. "Why was I invited then?" The invitation he had gotten was legitimate. He hadn't noticed any signs that he hadn't been invited. Unwelcome - yes. Uninvited - no. There was a difference he had learned to notice.

"It's because _I_ decided to invite you, despite my council's suggestion." The folder still covered her mouth, but looking in her eyes, Gentian could say she was smiling a lopsided smirk. "Care to gamble a guess why I've done that?" She rose an eyebrow. "Know my decision whether to follow through with my plan or not depends on it."

To make fun of him. That was the first thought that came to Gentian's mind but... Well, he didn't _know_ Princess Harmonia, but... His reports on her showed that yes, she was a known prankster, but... Her pranks and tricks always ended up with the victim being cast in a positive light... That's why most of the nobles interacted with her. He looked her in the eye again. There was the same amusement as before but to top it off now she bounced the folder, lifting one corner a bit, the other, both up, both down, up and down and so on. Gentian wasn't sure if she was amused with the question she asked him or this little 'dance' with the folder. "Have you invited more people not approved by your council?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Couldn't have the Council realise straight away I had some plans to do with you. Told them I wanted a nice, round number of guests and gave them yours and six more names to total it at sixty."

So, she needed Gentian's co-operation to pull out something her Council wouldn't like. The same Council which insisted on an outdated law she couldn't be crowned a queen while unmarried. The same Council which insisted she couldn't change laws till crowned a queen. "You'd like me to help you scare your Council into thinking you would have _me_ as your King Consort so they let you become queen without marriage instead."

"Close, again." She let the folder drop back onto the pile and rested her chin on entwined fingers. "I hope you don't have a habit of doing things only 'close'."

Gentian stared at her. A clock on a wall ticked and with each passing second his frown deepened. "You don't plan to actually..." He searched for any sign she was messing with him. But no. All he could see I'm her was 


End file.
